Tuesday, January 1, 2013

I read a lot of sad books, which seems to be kind of
unfortunate since my readers like to read about my life more than they like to
read about what I think about sad books that I read. Picking up this book from
the library made me feel like I was getting a giant People magazine, I felt voyeuristic and a little gross that I would
even want to read this tale.

A Stolen Life tells the story of Jaycee
Dugard, who was kidnapped at the age of 11 by a stranger named Phillip and his
wife Nancy. They kept her in their backyard for 18 years where they forced her
to become their “family.” Phillip told her that she was helping him with his
sex addiction by letting him repeatedly rape her so that no one else had to
suffer…as she was suffering. Jaycee begins her story by stating that writing it
she felt free from her captor. She was denying his commands she had kept for so
long by telling the world the secrets he made her keep.

Jaycee
writes her story in her own words, from the day she was kidnapped up to the
time she was writing her memoir, two years later. After a story, she’ll reflect
upon how she currently is feeling. It is amazing to read such a devastating
tale and how much Jaycee has been able to grow into her newfound freedom.

I feel
uncomfortable really reviewing this book, because it is so personal. Her
writing is a bit childish, but what do you expect of a girl who was taken out
of school at 11 to basically be a sex slave? She was more or less not allowed
to leave the confines of the backyard and only had contact with her kidnapper,
his wife, and the two daughters she bore. Her greatest joy was in the many pets
that came and went during her life. Since being freed she has gone on to start
her own foundation to help families dealing with similar situations and helping
abandoned animals.

What makes
this book almost a joy to read is that you, the reader, get to watch this woman
go from a scared victim to a free woman both physically and mentally. It is not
an easy path and it is incredible that you, for a moment, almost see Phillip
and Nancy as her “family” and her life as almost happy before she is freed.
Jaycee has such a wonderful, happy spirit that she sounds almost content some of the time.

Considering
the content, this book is not too painful to read. She doesn’t go into too much
detail about the horrors she was put through, only really explaining them in
the beginning, when it is most painful because she is so young. As the book
continues, the pain is more mental than physical, but it has a happy ending! It
is a powerful story of the resilience of the human spirit and the healing power
of family love, caring strangers, and professional therapy.

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